Types of Headaches

HEADACHES:

There are many types of headaches and that has caused much confusion among patients and doctors over the years. In 1988 the International Headache Society held a conference and a paper resulted from this. The paper is called “Classification and Diagnostic Criteria for Headache Disorders, Cranial Neuralgias and Facial Pain.” Virtually all medical publications since then have referred to this paper and the criteria contained in it to classify and diagnose headaches syndromes. Not surprisingly, chiropractic research and published papers were left out of this huge discussion. The general classification system from the IHS is as follows:

1. Migraine
2. Tension Headache
3. Cluster Headache
4. Misc. Headaches unassociated with structural lesions
5. Headaches associated with head trauma
6. Headaches assoc. with vascular disorders
7. Headaches assoc. with non-vascular intra-cranial disorder
8. Headaches assoc. with substance or their withdrawal
9. Headaches assoc. with non-cephalic (head) infections
10. Headaches assoc. with metabolic disorders
11. Headache or facial pain assoc. with disorder of cranium, neck, eyes, ears, nose, sinuses, teeth, mouth, or other facial or cranial structures
12. Cranial neuralgias, nerve trunk pain and de-afferentation pain
13. Non-classifiable headaches

Dr. Haberstroh is a Boston and Somerville Chiropractor.